William V. S. Tubman

Who is William V. S. Tubman?

William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman was born in Harper, Maryland County, Liberia, descended from freed American slaves who had settled on the coast. He trained in law, became Liberia's youngest senator at age twenty-eight, and served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court before being elected President in 1943, taking office in 1944. He went on to serve until his death in 1971, making him Liberia's longest-serving president. Tubman is best known for his Open Door Policy, which invited large-scale foreign investment and concessions, most notably from the Firestone rubber company, driving rapid economic growth and modernization through the 1950s and early 1960s. He paired this with a National Unification Policy intended to draw Liberia's indigenous majority into the political and economic life long dominated by the Americo-Liberian settler minority, extending suffrage and infrastructure to the interior of the country. Under his long rule Liberia also became a founding member of the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity. He died in London in 1971 while receiving medical treatment, and is often called the father of modern Liberia.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "William V. S. Tubman" · EBSCO Research Starters, "William V.S. Tubman" · New World Encyclopedia, "William Tubman"